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A unique combination of law and fine art history has won Indigenous UWA graduate Jessyca Hutchens a Charlie Perkins scholarship to study at Oxford's Balliol College.

Ms Hutchens , who graduated  in 2010 with a Bachelor of Laws with Distinction and a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Fine Art History, is one of three young women to win the academic scholarship for postgraduate study. It has been awarded since 2009 to (usually two) talented Indigenous graduates each year.

A descendant of the Palyku people of WA, she is currently working as a sessional tutor at UWA and as a compliance officer at Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation . Since graduation, she has also worked in Berlin, working as an archival assistant at a photography gallery.

Ms Hutchens was also offered a place in the MPhil program in the history of art and architecture at Cambridge University, but chose the DPhil program at Oxford.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Johnson , was at the ceremony in Canberra when Ms Hutchens received her scholarship from the British High Commissioner and a representative of the Charlie Perkins Trust, Tom Calma.

Charlie Perkins was an Indigenous leader who was the first  Aboriginal man to graduate from an Australian university (with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney in 1966). He was also the first permanent head of a federal Government department, working for many years in the Office of Aboriginal Affairs.

He was an activist and a sportsman and came to prominence as a key member of The Freedom Ride in 1965, a bus tour of NSW too protest against discrimination in small town Australia.

Shortly before his death in 2000, Mr Perkins was named by the National Trust of Australia as one of the country's Living National Treasures.